Just months later, he recounts the sequence of events like it was something that happened to someone else, or one of destiny’s merry pranks.

But even as Chris Wright narrates the abridged version, which he delivers in the impassive style of a guy giving directions to the library, it comes down to this:

One day he was a 21-year-old professional athlete trying to make it to the NBA, and the next day he was broadsided by an insidious disease that left him temporarily paralyzed, and it could strike again at any time.

This happened in the Turkish city of Edirne, near the Greek border, in February of 2012. The 6-1 point guard from Georgetown was running suicides with teammates in practice, and when he put on the brakes and reached for the baseline, his foot gave out.

“It got progressively worse, and by the second day I lost all feeling in the right side of my body,” Wright explained. “I literally had to crawl just to get around. Even after the paralysis eased up after about 10 days, I wasn’t able to walk fluidly, or grab or hold anything.”

The diagnosis was multiple sclerosis, which could have marked the end of his NBA ambition.

But this kid from D.C. doesn’t much care for the rules of medical science, so he is rewriting them on the fly.

Consider: At the time of his diagnosis, two neurologists told him that it was time to start pursuing another career. As he sat in the PNY Center after practicing with the Nets’ summer league team Wednesday, we wondered about his first reaction to those doubts.

He moved his jaw around like he had a mouthful of cold sauerkraut. It wasn’t anger or bitterness. It was sheer defiance, which you expect from a kid with the aura of strength that this one has, as he seems to equate yielding with defeat.

“They had their beliefs, and I had mine. So I went to find another specialist,” said Wright, whose search took him to Dr. Heidi Crayton, a Virginia neurologist. “She told me to go for it. I asked her if there was another NBA player who had MS, and she said no.

“So I said, ‘Well, then, that’s my goal.’”

He achieved his goal this past March, when he appeared in three games for Dallas after the Mavs called him up from Iowa of the D-League.

“During MS Awareness week,” Wright said, grinning. “I took that as a sign.”

It got some media attention, but mostly as an MS milestone story. Once you get to know Chris Wright, however, you see it’s also about a young man pursuing his dream and deciding that nothing can end it without his capitulation.

Clearly, not even MS.

It is an auto-immune disease, one in which the body attacks the central nervous system and wears away the protective sheath (myelin) covering the nerves. That interrupts the communication between the brain and the rest of the body, leading to fatigue, balance problems, blurred vision, cognitive impairment, numbness, and yes, paralysis.

There are 25,000 new MS cases diagnosed in the U.S. annually, and the MS Society estimates that there are 2.1 million cases worldwide. It is not fatal. But such neuropathic diseases are tragically debilitating, as it might result in the irreversible deterioration of the nerves.

Wright has a relapsing-remitting form of the disease, which means he could experience a partial or complete recovery. He hasn’t had another episode since Edirne, and every 28 days he keeps his condition under control by sitting through a 2½-hour infusion of Tysabri, which Dr. Crayton says is the most aggressive treatment available.

As for the attitude he brings to the fight:

“He has the air of a kid who is going to succeed no matter what course he chooses,” said Iowa general manager Chris Makris, who got 15.5 points and seven assists per game from his D-League All-Star last year. “Many of us would say, ‘MS is going to ruin my career, and ruin my life.’ You would never hear any of that from Chris.

“There were times he probably didn’t feel great, but it never impacted his play. So he showed it would be a non-issue for him, and that’s how it should be for NBA teams.”

It wasn’t always that way, of course. Agent Doug Neustadt couldn’t get him a summer league invitation last year – one team backed out, after consulting its medical personnel – but Neustadt got him into New Orleans’ veterans camp, where Wright showed the Hornets he was a NBA-quality defender.

“And since the callup from Dallas, the worry has dropped,” said Neustadt. “Teams will do their research, and if they need more information, I just have them speak with Heidi Crayton, who doesn’t hesitate to get on the phone with teams.

“So while MS is a life-altering thing, what we have is a kid who won’t allow it to deter his pursuit of being a professional player. He used the D-League to show everyone he’s healthy, and since the original diagnosis, he’s had zero symptoms.”

That’s not quite accurate, his client admits: “I still get some tingling sensations in my feet and hands, if I get stressed out or if I’m in the gym for five hours,” Wright said.

“But I have nothing to complain about. I’m comfortable with where I am, I’ve come to accept MS as a challenge to be met, and I see the need to show people you can still accomplish anything with it.”

That’s a profound statement, and it supports the notion that the Mavs also employed him because the owner thought Wright’s eloquence could be put to good use.

“I loved Chris. We sat next to each other on the plane and got to talk, and he helped me out during my Twitter battle with Donald Trump,” Mark Cuban said via email the other day. “He’s a great kid, and he deserves a ton of credit for all the work he’s put in.”

He’ll make some NBA team after he improves his jumper, and if things break right, he may even make it to Nets’ camp in September. He calls Jason Kidd and Rod Strickland his favorite stylists, and he’s keen on the read-and-react offense they’re using for the summer squad: “It looks like a Princeton,” he said, “but where I come from, we call it the Georgetown.”

Either way, Chris Wright has already won. MS was supposed to make him quit, especially in a business where human psyches are often harder to bandage than human flesh.

“I know that just making it to this point is an accomplishment,” he said. “But I’ve got a lot more to accomplish.”